Improvement in treatment of fatty acids



J. .APPENZELLER.

Decomposing Fats.

Patented Jan. 25, 1859.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN (.1. APPENZELLER, OF (IINOINNA'II, OllIO.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 22,691, dated January 25, 1859.

To all whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, JOHN (LAPPENZELLER, of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Process of Saponifying Fatty Matters in the Manufacture of Stcaric Acid; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a central longitudinal vertical section of the tank which I employ in the process. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical sec tion of the same.

Similarlettcrs of reference denote like parts in both figures.

This invention consists in subjecting the fatty matter, mixed with lime, in a tank or suitable vessel first to the action of steam introduced among it and afterward to the influence of heat applied to the exterior of the vessel, by which means I am enabled to save time, labor, and material in the process.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my in.vention, I will proceed to describe the construction of the apparatus I employ and the method of performing the process.

T is the body of the tank, made of horizontal cylindrical form and having built at one end of it a furnace K with suitable heating-flues H H.

O is afunnel, fitted with a stop-cock O',for the introduction into said tank of the fatty matters to be treated, with the quieklime used in their treatment.

B is a safety-valve, I) a manhole, and A A A are cocks for the emission of gases and vapors as often as desired in the saponifying process.

I is a steam-pipe from a boiler, entering the tank at one end and extending all along close to the bottom thereof, and perforated thickly with small holes for the admission of steam from an adjacent boiler among the matters within the tank. This pipe should be provided at its entry into the tank with a check-valve closing toward the boiler. G is cock for discharging the tank.

F is a try-cock for taking proofs during the process.

E is the shaft of the rotary stirrer, passing through a stut'ling box in one end of the tank and working in suitable bearings at both ends thereof.

l. l. are arms attached to the said shaft, and M M are dashers carried by the said arms, the said arms and dashers constituting the stirrer.

The shaft E may be driven by a steam-engine or by other means.

The process is conducted in this tank in the following manner: Steam being up' in the boiler adjacent, the fatty matters, with quicklime in the proportion of about five pounds of the latter to every hundred pounds of the former, are fed into the tank through the funnel O, and the stop-cock (1 is closed. Steam is then let in from the boiler through the pipe I, and the stirrer set in operation, and after the matters have been subjected to the combined action of the jets of steam from the holes in the pipe I and of the stirrer for about two (2) hours a tire is lighted in the furnace K and the steam is shut off, the stirrer still remaining in operation. \V hen it has been ascertained by proofs drawn at the cock F that the fat has been properly saponih'ed, which will generally be in about four (I) hours from the commencement of the process, the cock G is opened and the tank is discharged by the pressure of the steam within. The steam admitted from the boiler should have a pressure of about ninety to one hundred pounds per square inch, and after the steam is shut off the contents of the tank should be heated to a temperature of 335 to 35? Fahrenheit.

I do not claim subjecting the fatty matters mixed with lime to the direct action of steam; but

W'hat I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

After subjecting the mixture for a time to the direct action of steam, shutting off the steam from it, and raising its temperature by the application of heat to the exterior of the vessel, substantially as herein described.

J. C. APPENZELLER. \Vitnesses:

JOHN KRIEZER, F. H. RoWnKAMP. 

